You mention a book …
Can you actually write?
Fair question. Of course I would like you to believe so. These short pieces on a diverse variety of topics can help you decide.
Disclaimer: I fudged the dates on these posts from my past so I could display them in a specific sequence on this page. The original publication date appears at the end of each article.
A perfectly true tale of Lancaster County cows, Rollerblade-selfies … and a spirit-boosting encounter with angels.
I was surprised this piece didn’t get more attention when I originally posted it online. Although its title invites incredulity, this is a perfectly true story.
I’m normally a slow writer. This story flowed very quickly after I accidentally ended up at the original homespun memorial to flight 93, chicken wire, t-shirts and all.
I was minding my own business, waiting to fly out of Baltimore one morning, when this happened. Much like the book I just have to write, this was a story I just had to tell. It quickly turned into my most-read piece to date.
With insights from writers Michael Lewis and A.J. Liebling - two very interesting people in their own right.
Even France’s Deuxieme Bureau in 1940 understood that information has a shelf life, and that its value and sensitivity decay over time.
My deep dive into the service records of an officer in the Royal Navy led me to the surprising story of a British Mount Everest expedition.
“Billy, let’s grab a smoke.” I don’t smoke. Never have. It was Steve Johnston’s way of saying: Let’s go find a place where we can talk.
I knew there would be at least one actual pastor in the crowd (and of course he ended up with a seat in the second row, just behind my wife, precisely in my line of vision).
The 5 silver bands that make up the bottom of the cup – the bands on which he engraved winning players’ names, one letter at a time - were individually coiled on the floor.
I was born on the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. For a time I thought I would end my book with this quote from Winston Churchill. It’s still one of my favorites.
“If I hadn’t taken that leap I would have always regretted it and would have wondered what might have been.”
Sample chapter from my book “Everybody Knows a Salesman Can’t Write a Book.”
Any scouting report on me it would have noted: “He’s slow but he’s small.”
The CAPTCHA process is actually a reverse Turing test. Instead of a computer trying to convince you that it’s human, you “win” by convincing a computer that you’re not another computer.
… in this case, the story of Gracie Somerset Whiteside.
